Clinton to reward persistent students with Keota visit
Lovely story. Hope there is some hope for the school.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/12/10/clinton-reward-persistent-students-keota-visit/77113758/
Clinton to reward persistent students with Keota visit
Tony Leys, tleys@dmreg.com 4:43 p.m. CST December 10, 2015
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(Photo: Special to the Register)
Three kids from a tiny school in southeast Iowa have proven the power of persistence.
The students from Keota High School set out this fall to snag a visit from Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president. They sent her letters. They took to Twitter, with the handle KeotaHopesForHillary. They talked to reporters. They traveled to campaign events, where they held up signs and sought out microphones to ask Clinton questions.
On Thursday, they got word from the campaign: Clinton is coming Dec. 22.
“We were just so excited. We were just blown away,” said senior Abby Schulte, 17.
Schulte and her partners, senior Megan Adam and junior Kylea Tinnes, mostly want to talk to Clinton about how to prevent their little school from being closed. The senior class has just 17 students, and the high school has a total of 80.
Clinton smiled Nov. 3 when the young women took the microphone at a campaign event in Coralville. She immediately recognized them and she knew about their cause. “I’m coming!” she said, adding that her staff would work out the details. “I mean, anybody who can organize such a really well-planned effort to get me to visit, I think you deserve it.”
Clinton warned that state and local governments provide most school financing. But she said the federal government has a role, and she promised to think about the underlying causes of school closures and come talk to people in Keota about them.
The students hope to talk to her about the reasons so many rural areas are losing population. If that could be turned around in their area, the school could be saved, Adam said. “The school is a big part of our town,” she said. “Without our school, that would be a big factor toward losing our town.”.....................
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